good morning, america. this morning, direct hit. hurricane irene slams into north carolina. it is now a slightly weakened but still dangerous category 1 storm whipping winds as strong as 100 miles per hour. 30-foot waves are slamming the shore and it spawned multiple tornadoes and there are very real fears of flooding and beaches and homes being swept away. >> this is definitely the type of hurricane that can hurt people. >> we are live in the center of it as this monster storm works its way up the coast. get out now. perhaps never in our history has a hurricane had more americans in its sight. 65 million of us and more than 2 million are being tol to evacuate. >> this is the real deal. this is a big, deadly and

dangerous storm. >> new york city this morning, an unprecedented move. nearly 300,000 people under mandatory evacuation orders. the casinos in atlantic city are shutting down. the subways in new york city shutting down as well. some of america's largest cities are on lockdown as irene lumbers north. and good morning, america. you are looking at live pictures as hurricane irene slams ashore. this is the first hurricane to hit the u.s. in three years and as you can see the wind is whipping. the rain iss falling hard and these are images of the outer banks of north carolina where the folks there are about to get the worst of it. irene is now a category 1 storm. not the category 2 everyone had feared but it is staying on course to head north withh majo

american cities still in its crosshairs. these are some of the most popular cities where hurricanes are extremely rare. >> many in these places have never seen one before. even though it has weakened i want to say that is not a reason to relax. the real issue is the enormous size of this thing. look at this shot from the international space station. irene roughly the size of europe. now let's take a look at the maps. hurricane warnings up for north carolina to new york and hurricane watches are posting into new england, overall more than 2 million people have been told to evacuate including a million in new jersey, another million in maryland, north carolina, virginia and delaware and for the first time ever new york city has ordered 300,000 people to get out. >> that's right, the public transportation systems and airports will be closed at noon today. we have our abc news team out in the key spots including our sam champion. but we want to first go to abc's matt gutman in the middle of this as it barrels into nags

head, north carolina. it is hitting hard right now. >> reporter: it is. where i was standing, this was the beach about 300 yards that way was the atlantic. now this entire area is being claimed by the atlantic ocean. literally coming towards me right now. we're going to move out of the way. that's a storm surge, literally the force generated by hurricane irene is pushing seven to eight feet of the atlantic right up against this beach here. that's how powerful it is even as a weakened storm. still 90 miles per hour. we see a tremendous amount of debris floating around here with sea shells and all sorts of this foam everywhere. now 300,000 people have evacuated, specifically from north carolina trying to get out of the way so those who have stayed, emergency management officials have said we can't helplpou at this point. don't try to evacuate. hunker down.

find a safe place to shelter yourself. thousands already without power. this is going to get worse. this is stalling, going slowly over north carolina. probably going to have this type of weather for another 12 to 15 hours going to see a lot of flooding probably significant damage too. >> reporter: as you said it's only going to get worse over the next few hourur for anybody out tre how does it feel, the pressure, the wind? >> reporter: well, if i turn my face this way, it feels like i'm being slapped in the face or stung with little arrows and needles. the wind is picking up but the rain has just been vicious. we've already had six inches of rain here, probably going to get 12 to 15, it has been relentless and coming down, physically painful quantities. there's nothing you can do to stay dry in this type of weather. that's the concern is all of this water, where is it going to go and how long is it going to stick around, bianna?

>> matt, thank you very much. i'll pick it up from here. we'll come back to you in just a minute. you can barely see him. a sense of how bad it is out there. as we cover the storm we'll work with our abc affiliates and stations up and down the east coast, wtvd is on the front lines on the outer banks of north carolina so straight now to reporter steve. dorsey on atlantic beach. >> reporter: we are expecting the eye of hurricane irene to pass right over us or very close to us any minute now. we have been experiencing the first few hours of hurricane irene throughout the morning here. we have been seeing some pretty large waves off of the shoreline right here at least 10 to 15 feet. they've been crashing on this seawall that we're standing next to throughout the morning flooding this coastline and really destroying the property, the dunes and coastal structure including some of the homes and

condos in this area. something that we're going to be monitoring throughout the morning. back to you dan. >> steve. thank you very much for your reporting. we'll come back to you throughout the morning. bianna, back over to you. >> abc's sam champion is tracking the hurricane right now. bobby oudin is the county manager for dare county. thanks for joining us. can you describe the situation in your county right now? >> right now we've got evacuation was completed yesterday so the people -- it's quiet here. the weather is deteriorating as we speak. down in hatteras 50-mile-an-hour winds are coming on shore and will get worse through the day. we've got the wind blowing, rain coming and so the first parts of the storm are starting to get us now. >> you're confident the evacuations yesterday were successful? >> the evacuations were successful. we believe we've got most if not all of the visitor population off and we've got all of the

local population that were willing to evacuate off and they're all now hunkered down and we'll wait and ride the storm out. >> what are your fears and expectations as to how bad the damage can be? >> well, we've got a category 1 nearly category 2 storm coming and we've got a long duration so we expect there to be damage and expect there to be overwash and expect the roads to be out and expect power lines to be down, trees to be down so, yeah, there is going to be a mess come sunday morning. >> all right. well, we know you have a busy, 24/48 hours ahead of you. bobby outten from dare county, north carolina. thank you. >> thank you. the good news is he does believe the evacuations were successful yesterday. >> that's a key point. there are evacuations not just in that part but in our part of the country, as well up north. let's go for more to abc's sam champion who is tracking the hurricane. he's in the evacuation zone in battery park which is in lower manhattan, not far from ground

zero with a big concern i think i have this right is the storm surges. >> absolutely, dan. first let's give you the health of the storm overnight and show you the track and talk more about new york and what could happen. but overnight we've seen some drier air get in on the western side of this storm and a satellite picture shows you what happened and started happening yesterday eke. as it's encountering the dry air over the mid-atlantic and the southeast, you get a little bit of weakening with this system over the site. also its interaction with the land is responsible for some of that, as well. the latest track, a category 1 storm and they do keep it as a category 1 storm after it makes its move off the eastern shore of north carolina and moves it all the way up the coastline, they leave it as a category 1. now, a lot of folks are questioning that, whether it's a tropical storm or category 1 really doesn't make much difference as far as the strength of the effects from now onecause take a look at the wind field here. the hurricane-force winds in the

center of the screen and tropical storm-force winds do not show much difference at all. almost everybody will be affected by those tropical storm force winds. our jim avila has been all over this area because this is something that is unprecedented. not in my lifetime. maybe not in two lifetimes. what isew york during? >> we get lured by the calm. manhattan is surrounded by water. very vulnerable to the heavy, long rains we'll get and storm surge. new york itself is prepared and will come to a complete stop at around noon today. the evacuations began with the elderly and the sick. at new york university hospita, 400 patients moved to higher ground, same at the low-lying coney island hospital and on staten island a normally chaotic emergency room now empty.

>> it's devastating to see and devastati devastating. >> reporter: 370,000 people in zone s s and b. the first time new york has evacuated its residents because of a hurricane. >> it's better to take precautions and get out of the way of the storm. mother nature is much stronger than all of us. >> reporter: strong enough to flood heavily populated areas of the city. the storm surge is expected to reach above five feet which would put battery park and southern manhattan under water and the rest of the city will not escape irene. the world's largest transit system shuts down at noon. paralyzing the city and the 8 million people who use the system. other closures, the beaches, the bridges in and out of manhattan. major highways once winds reach 60 miles per hour and outside of the city in new jersey, atlantic city is closing casinos and the

governor chris christie ordered eryone out of the pool, so to speak. >> get the hell off the beach in asbury park and get out. you've maximized your tan. you're done. >> reporter: of course, here in manhattan hurricane or not when it happens today and everything comes to a stop this will be quite a sight. the overcrowded place deserted. >> the fact that everybody pulled themselves together to make those preparations is just as impressive. pictures of what's going on on the carolina shoreline. the eye, we call it landfall, the official landfall from the hurricane center will be when the center of the storor not just the eye wall moves on shore and that's why that is delayed from when people think these hurricane-force winds are hitting the area. as it moves up the coastline and brings the impact that so many

fear we looked at the models of what a category 1 hurricane uld do here in lower manhattan and basically why they've evacuated the area and why it it would not be safe to b b here. with that storm surge coming right through new york harbor and see the statue of liberty behind us there will be a wall of water that gets higher and it's dry right now. but the idea is in history has shown us when a category 1 storm moves in here the water will be five feet high, almost as tie as i am in this area and that's why it's been so important to get people out of this area. water and the storm surge the big reason why people lose their lives in storms. dan? >> sam, thank you. tan by. i know we'll come back to you in a few moments. we want to bring in the director of the national hurricane center, bill read. good morning. >> how are things up there. >> we're bracing for what's coming our way. i want to ask you about that.

what is your current assessment of the storm? i know it's gotten a little weaker. should we take any comfort in that. >> only a minor amount. i have on the screen the radar image. this is cape lookout in north carolina. the center of the storm is going to make landfall. it looks like it's almost 50 miles in diameter there. we're hitting gusts to hurricane force throughout this area. we've had reports as high as 93 miles an hour from a weather station on the coast. also getting tidal flooding up to 7 1/2 feet. we're going to see reports like that all the way up north carolina this afternoon. and then, of course, all interests will go to the north. >> let me ask you about the north. we know it's marching towards some of the biggest cities in america. it's possible, i would imagine it could weaken as it travels over land and perhaps arrive in new york city as a tropical storm, right? should that give us comfort? >> only in a small sense. i think a lot of what we have been talking about, power

outage, heavy flooding rains, that part willcontinue. because of the size of the wind field and onshore flow as the center of the storm parallels the coasas we'll get tidal flooding up all and down the eastern seaboard ranging from 6 to 9 feet in north carolina and 4 to 8 feet tidal rises as we go up through the mid-atlantic into the northeast right on the coastline with the center. very heavy rains, immediate coast and inland and a lot of new england will have th power ouges and the heavy rain tomorrow. >> bill, i just want -- we have a few seconds but want to put a fine point on this. anybody watching this attempted to not take it so seriously because it's been downgraded, what would you say to those people? >> prepare to stay indoors, ride the storm out. hope you've got your food and water in place because once the weweher turns south you won't be able to do that. >> bill read, we really appreciate you coming on. you're the director of the national hurricane center. we'll come back to you as the storm progresses.

thank you once again and, bianna, over to you. >> all right, dan, some good advice there. meantime, irene will be headed trait for the mid-atlantic states today and abc's jim sciutto is in ocean city, maryland, under a state of emergency since thursday. how are things looking out there right now? >> reporter: the rain is starting to fall. normally on a saturday in summertime it would be packed with people anticipate cars. now nothing, mandatory evacuation here. police say more than 90% of people have heeded that call. as far as we can tell it's 100% just seeing police and emergency workers all along the maryland and virginia coast, 500,000 people told to get out. the word from authorities up and down the atlantic coast is simple, evacuate out now. no one was exempted. college students were bussed inland. >> best thing to do is move it. >> reporter: boat owners told to pull their boats from the water.

>> we may get the tidal surge. we had it once here. >> reporter: the ships from the norfolk naval base were sent out to safer waters at sea. okay.'re good there? >> reporter: normally busy resorts became ghost towns, the danger o dangerous strength and tide. it's expected to hover over the area from saturday night into sunday morning. >> this is the real deal. this is a big, deadly and dangerous storm. >> reporter: fleeing rest depses left behind shortages of gas and bottled water. but they stocked up for the trek inland and to safety. the police and emergency services who are staying behind here will ride out the storm in a public safety building. they say that when the storm comes through here later this afternoon it will be too unsafe even for them to answer emergency calls. if you're still here, ourselves included you're on your own, dan and bianna. >> thanks, jim. as the governor said this is the

real deal. there is, however, other news this morning. for more on that let's go to ron claiborne. wall street has snapped its losing streak after another turn leapt day. the dow ended up capping its first winning week in a month. stocks got a boost from federal reserve chairman ben bernanke who said the economy looks strong in the long term and left the door open to more action if another recession looks likely. in libya some sense of calm is returning to tripoli. people have started returning to the streets. many of them celebrating the downfall of moammar gadhafi. the rebels have now turned their attention 250 mys east of tripoli to his hometown of sirt, his last major stronghold. new developmentnt in the search for susan powell. a judge ordered her husband and father-in-law to stop publishing her journal entries. they were written when she was much younger and have no bearing on her disappearance. an amtrak train derailed friday and most of them were

released. the chicago bound train hit a crane in southwest nebraska tipping over two locomotives but no passenger cars. no one was seriously injured in that mishap. finally, take a look at this. it seems like this tortoise, you see him there is training for a rematch with the hare. this tortoise appropriately named cruiser chasing a man chasing a man allegedly chasing a man in a motorized wheelchair. it's part of an animal therapy program called dragon slayer that helps disabled adults and children. >> look at him go. >> it's moving. >> all right, ron, thank you. well, time now for the weather and back to abc's sam champion who is in lower manhattan. good morning, sam. >> good morning, everybody. we'll start with, well, of course, everyone is looking at this storm system as it moves up the mid-atlantic into the northeast over the weekend. but there's plenty of other weather to deal with. let's deal with the heat in the middle of the country and continues to stay there. if you're looking for a break in

it, it just doesn't happen. houston, another day at 101. san antonio, 103. dallas all the way up to 106 and then take a look west where those heat warnings have been out for l.a. 91 today. phoenix, 111 and even vegas at 106. quick look at the big board will show you we have irene placed on the eastern seaboard. that scorcher in the deep south and the beautiful, beautiful mild weather right in the oh >> could morning. this is the day we h have been eparing for. hurricanour rarain o our doorsteps. some of the water rising and chesapeake bay. storm isu were the right now. it is saying storms category 1, slightly weakening. but looked at the size o of tha. this is through tomorrow morning. how much rain can we

>> and dan and bianna i never thought i would ever say this. we are standing in lower manhattan which is now the evacuation zone for a hurricane. i've been here 25 year, walked here a thousand times and i cannot even believe i'm saying this to you this morning. dan and bianna. >> it is bizarre, sam, thank you. well, this, of course, is a very serious stormrm but that's not stopping some people from making light of it. we found some pictures to show you from our viewers. the first one is from a little girl named megan from queens. she has her priorities in order. she boarded up her dollhouse. she said go away, irene. you see that. this next picture could only by from my home region of new england. they put this up in concord, new hampshire to explain why the town meeting has been canceled. there's a stawm comein'. it's in my system photographer.

>> it's a talent. coming up on mean irene as they call her slamming north carolina before setting her sights on some of the largest cities in this country, tens of millions in the path this morning. full coverage coming up this morning. plus, staying safe in the storm. are you set for a hurricane? we'll tell you how to protect yourself and your home and how ready is fema?

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>> good morning, wasngton. hurricane irene on our doorstep. moving up in the chesapeake bay, surge happening. it is a warm and muggy morning. where is irene right now? storm. category 1

we're going to peal her affectt the overnightto hours. can we see some tropical storm condnditions? east of i-95, the eaststern anlower marylandnd. warnings in effect morning.orrow from 5 inches to 8 the eastern shore. negligible in the e shenandoah. 30-40 m.p.h. winds, a higher the beaches. you can see right on through the weekend, that storwiwill make way up to

you are looking at the outer banks of north carolina where hurricane irene is pounding the coast this morning. overnight the storm was downgraded to a category 1 hurricane but do not be fooled. it is still incredibly dangerous and here's why. irene is an unusually large storm. in fact, it's enormous. it's the size of europe and it is heading north as we speak directly into some of america's largest cities. good morning, america. i'm dan harris. >> and i'm bianna golodryga. we are live up and down the coast as this monster storm comes ashore with wind gusts nearly 100 miles an hour. heavy rain and huge waves in its path. more than 2 million people on the eastern seaboard are under orders to evacuate and another 63 million are in the storm's path.

many of these people as we've mentioned before have never experienced a hurricane so we'll tell you what you should do at your home or what you should do to stay safe. >> let's go straight to north carolina where irene's whipping winds and high waves are already battering the coast as we wait for the eye of the storm to hit land. abc's matt gutman is right out in the middle of things. matt, we can barely see you. how are you doing this morning? >> reporter: how am i doing? great, dan. this storm may have weakened. i'll tell you how this feels, just in the last half hour the storm has intensified. it feels like being shot in the face with a low caliber bb gun. not the most comfortable feeling. it's very wet out here. this was a beach, dan, just about seven hours ago. now, check this out. this is all beautiful sand, now all of these are shells. literally the atlantic has coughed itself up.

storm surge of seven or eight feet. that's how powerful irene has been. there have been tornado sightings, there was lightning and all of the storm surge will create a tremendous amount of flooding. 300,000 people have evacuated this part. a lot of people decided to stay and those people have been told by emergency management officials we can't help you. just try to hunker down. the storm will probably hover over this area and intensify over the next couple of hours and could feel these conditions for about 12 to 15 hour, very bad news for the folks living here in the outer banks. >> i like your vivid description of a low caliber bb gun hitting you in the face. are you seeing other people out on the beach this morning or are you the only one there? matt, i'm not sure you can hear me. i was asking if you could see anybody else out on the beach. are you still there?

>> reporter: i think you're probably trying to talk to me but i can't hear what you're saying. pretty rugged out here and it's probably going to get worse. >> we'll get back over to bianna now. >> we can understand. hopefully to answer your question, he is the only one out there. everyone is heeding the advice to stay indoors. this morning people inew york city are dealing with concerns, many have never confronted before. america's largest city under a hurricane watch for the first time since 1985. and for the first time ever mandatory evacuations have been ordered in some areas. abc's sam champion is in one of those areas, battery park. sam, how are things looking out there? >> good morning, bianna.. we're right now calm, cloudy, evenhe water is a little calm in new york harbor. the interesting tidbit was hurricane warnings have been issued for 11 states, let me go over them, north carolina, virginia, washington, d.c., maryland, delaware, new york, pennsylvania, new jersey and here's where it gets really

interesting, connecticut, rhode island and massachusetts. let's take a look at the maps and show you what's going on with the storm. a quick look at the hurricane center's track. the idea is this thing moves from north carolina all the which up the coastline staying as a category 1. now, does it weaken to a tropical storm? and if you lose that number, will people stop worrying? i'll tell you right now from this point on it doesn't really matter whether it's a tropical storm or hurricane, it still will have damaging effects with winds like 40 to 60-mile-per-hour winds. look at the red zone, 60-mile-per-hour plus winds all up and down the coastline and when this takes its time moving up the coast that means you'll get pounded them and there will be wind damage. heavy rain, as well. when you look at the red zone of the 6 to 12 inches of rain a lot is inland. this is very wet ground. this will turn into floodings, rivers, creeks and streams will be flooding based on the rain. it's not just a coastal issue. a quick look at the coast. it will be making its mark along the shoreline pounding up the

surf and even taking away barrier islands and the waves there so all of that wind damage and wave damage, all of that because of this storm as it moves up and has not passed not off the shoreline until monday, monday morning that storm is making its move from maine all the way into canada. that's the weather around the nation. >> irene is on our doorstep. you can see the projected path landfall in north carolina moving >> all right. and we are live in lower manhattan. as we're in the hurricane evacuation zone. where matt was, that rain and wind is so loud and the earpiece is so small. your wet ear and the winds, you can't hear a thing you guys are talking about usually in a storm like that.

>> not a good combination. >> not an easy reporting situation. sam, thank you very much. the hurricane as we both know is itself it's basically an east coast story but the travel disruptions is a truly national story. a global one. thousands of flights grounded d it is going to get worse over the course of the weekend. abc's t.j. winick is covering the ripple effects from all of in this morning at new york's laguardia airport. t.j., good morning to you. >> reporter: dan, good morning. over 24,000 flights canceled already this weekend and yet things are pretty busy here in departures. the great escape, folks getting away while they can. planes will contitie to take off weather permitting but starting at noon all airports from the new york metro airy will stop accepting arrivals both international and domestic for the fear passengers could be stranded with trains and buses here coming to a standstill. hurricane irene may not be but it's arrival is grounding s

planes up and down the east coast. >> we have no idea what could happen. i don't know that anybody's actually ready for this storm. >> reporter: a hurricane hundreds of miles wide threatening the country's busiest airspace is draining passengers around the country. in chicago the luckiest made it back home from virginia. >> it was a nightmare in the rental return cars. everybody is trying to leave. >> reporter: friday david wright found precisely one seat left from l.a. to new york or d.c. getting back is even trtrkier. >> the soonest i could get to new york on a coach ticket would be tuesday? >> tuesday. >> reporter: the airports impacted the most, newark, jfk and laguardia in new york, philadelphia and charlotte. >> this is going to be a really big deal because this hurricane is hitting some of the largest cities in the country and not only that but some of the airline's largest hubs. >> reporter: how quickly airports from charlotte to boston can function again after

irene depends on more than just clear skies. remember power is still knocked out in certain areas monday. if they're still not running many airport employee also have a very difficult time getting to work. dan and bianna. >> we'll be living with the effects of this thing for many days. t.j., thanks for your reporting this morning. coming up, how prepare reasonable doubt we at home? we'll tell you what you need to know about staying safe in your house during this storm. and the hurricane's big impact on big events. irene is an unwelcome and uninvited guest for a lot of people this weekend. we'll tell you their stories. hey! you kids almost ready? i've got breakfast waiting for you. whoo! uh-oh. what? mom's doing her exercise video again. when mom's on a health kick, all of us are. and now she's made us breakfast. uh-oh. ♪ [ male announcer ] eggo nutri-grain waffles. you know it's made with 8 grams of whole grain and is a good source of fiber. all they know is it tastes great.

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>> it's really important for them to listen to what they have to say if they're told to evacuate, we want them to evacuate. in addition to that we also want people to, you know, once the hurricane strikes to really stay indoors, to stay indoors and to make sure that they stay away from the window, they stay away from the glass shutter, anything that potentially could break. that's where injuries come. important to stay indoor, if they're told to evacuate, make sure they evacuate. >> what specific preparations has fema made ahead of this monster storm to support local and state government? >> well, that's our main function is to support the governor and the local officials in the event of when a disaster happens. one of the things we have been doing is moved a lot of resources into the area and extra s splies sucuch as blanke and cots and incident management team, some of our federal coordinating officers embedded

in each one of the states all up and down the coast could work with local and state officials to have instant communications with them. >> how confident are you government resources are at the ready to handle the ramifications of what we could see from the monster storm? >> we have an awful lot of resources in place, president obama, secretary napolitano has really pushed the entire federal government to support the state and the locals to haveas much resources as needed but it really -- government is part of that team and includes our private sector and the big stores bringing in extra resources and red cross and other nongovernmental organizations as well as the faith-based community but the most important part is the public and the public for them to take the time if they hopefully prepared already but listen to the local officials to stay self. >> mr. cerino, thank you so much.

hopefully everybody will heed your advice. dr. richard besser is an expert and headed up the cdc's team for emergency preparedness so no one better to talk to than you yourself. you took that spot the day katrina hit. the irony there but you know how to handle situations in a hurricane. what's the first thing you should do? >> the advice we're hear something great and the idea that fema has resources ahead of the storm is very reassuring. three things can you do at home that people may not have thought about. the first one if you have any propane tanks outside make sure they're turned off and secured and know how to turn off your water and gas in case there is a bigdisruption, that's something you can do. your refrigerator and freezer, turn them down to their coldest setting that way your power is going to go out. it'll make sure your food stays safe longer. then your bathtub. fill it up with water. you can use that for drinking,

flushing the toilet and washing. make sure you lock your door. >> my wife made me go through the emergency kit with her andn i'll admit i was being a bad boy and didn't pay attention so could you go through what we should have in the kit. >> okay, so every county in the u.s. has had a declared disaster in the past ten years so even if the storm isn't coming your way get a red cross kit. we have one e home and it's got food and supplies for three days. a couple things to highlight it from. want to make sure you have food and water for three days because you'll be on your own and have to take care of yourself and have a crank or a battery powered radio or flashlight. this will allow to you stay in tune with your local news and know whether or not you have to take additional precautions and then medications. make sure you have at least a 30-day supply of all your medications because your pharmacy isn't going to be there for you. >> the most important bit of advice, know when you should evacuate especially for the millions that never experienced itbefore.

>> if they say evacuate, evacuate. the thing that drove me nuts during storms in my previous job is people who did not listen. so important. know your route and what you'll do with your pets and get out of there if they say to get out. >> thank you very much. some great advice. we appreciate it. coming up on "good morning america," meet a woman named irene who has a very personal beef with hurricane irene. we'll tell you her story. hey. hey mom! what are you doing?

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of course, we're not going to know for days how bad the damage from irene will be but we already know it is badly disrupting the personal plan, some very important plans for

broad way show, even weddings and abc's ron claiborne is here with more on that. >> even weddings. the city that never sleeps will be sleeping late tomorrow probably all day. for most people there won't be much of a choice eveve if they wanted to go out, there are thousand, maybe millions of things to do, places to go but most of them will be closed on sunday. many closing tonight. as new york city virtually the entire east coast from virginia to new england basically shuts down because of hurricane irene. >> we are canceling the event. >> reporter: for irene rios, irene the hurricane was an unwelcome wedding crasher. >> we scheduled our wedding for sunday, the 28th of august. >> reporter: for the past year irene and her fiance david knopf looked forward to this with more than 100 friends and family as invited guests until hurricane irene blew it all away. hurricane irene has scuttled all kinds of best laid plans for tomorrow. the norm rally bright lights of

broadway will be dark as storm clouds. no broadway shows at all and silence the dave matthews band which was supposed to play on governor's island, the tiny low-lying island could be underwater from storm surge tomorrow. and as for sport, forget about it. baseball games scheduled for baltimore, philadelphia and new york city are almost certainly strikeouts. the final round of the barclay's golf tournament has been called off and columbia and new york university, two of new york city's private colleges freshmen move-in day is being moved to monday. >> doing it in the middle of a hurricane probably would not be the best experience. >> reporter: even the long planned official opening of the martin luther king memorial in washington, d.c. has been postponed until later this fall. at the end of the day i think everyone wants to have a successful event and ensure everyone is safe. >> nothing beats this. >> reporter: but irene the bride and david are not be deterred. their going ahead with their

wedding instead it will be indoors at home. they are one determined couple as well as defiant. they plan to tie the proverbial knot at 9:00 tomorrow morning which will be roughly when the hurricane is pounding that part of connectut the hardest. no broadway or sporting events canceled. subway system shut down but the wedding of irene the bride is going ahead. >> she is dedermined but so is hurricane irene. we've just now got word the hurricane has made landfall off cape lookout in north carolina. 85-mile-an-hour winds so that is no joke. >> we will continue our coverage throughout the morning and be right back. [ female announcer ] this is not a prescription. this is kate.

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thanks for watching, everybody. stay tuned to abcnews.com for the latest on irene throughout the day. morning, washington. i am dave zahren. after a week of high anxiety, hurrican irene just made landfall in north carolina, a category one storm.

some rain billions are coming in into the winds are picking up. bands are coming in and winds are picking up. about 81 degrees. the storm will be at its most intense in the later hours. in windy conditions as we go into the overnight .ours it is making its way up the atlantic seaboard. the impact could be great later on this afternoon and tomorrow york and new england. time tomorrow, we should of all of that lane. tomorrow promises to be a rather decent day with partly sunny conditions. we still have to contend with effects of the storm. in a tropical storm warning here in the district. areas of the eastern shore in maryland, that is where the hurricane warning is in

effect. winds, lots of rain fall, 3-5 inches in the metro area. anywhere from 5 to 8 inches of rain is possible. 45 mile per hour wind gusts. if you did not tie things down, still have a few hours to do that. the winds will continue to be up tomorrow. start to diminish. of the northwest tomorrow. should be much improved. thanks for watching. hi...do you happen to have any brilliant silver altimas? yea, right over here. look at 'em all. what about a black frontier with utilitrack? absolutely. oh, great, that's awesome. what about a platinum graphite rogue with touch-screen nav, bluetooth, and...a moonroof? with or without leather? we got 'em both. [ sighs ] i gotta get back. [ male announcer ] the most innnnovative cars are also the most available cars. nissan. innovation for a.